


Heat Wave

by a_single_plum



Series: Silly Love Songs [5]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Good Relationship, Billy Hargrove Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove Tries to Be a Better Person, Fluff, Gen, Getting Together, M/M, Matchmaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:41:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23403154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_single_plum/pseuds/a_single_plum
Summary: It's summertime in Hawkins, Max and El are bored, and Billy gets his fortune told.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Maxine "Max" Mayfield
Series: Silly Love Songs [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1671787
Comments: 7
Kudos: 100





	Heat Wave

**Author's Note:**

> So aside from a few elements Season 3 doesn't exist here. :) This is just a feel-good, escapist, rom-com type of story with characters I love that I had a lot of fun writing.
> 
> It's not the first Harringrove fic I've written but it is the first one I've posted publicly. It turned out more Max and El-centric, and I feel like it still kind of sucks but I reached the point where I didn't know how to make it better so I gave up and went with it. Any suggestions for improvement are welcome!
> 
> I also want to add that I spent way too much time playing MASH (here's an overview if you're not familiar with it: https://mashplus.com/how-to-play-mash/) while writing this so that I could figure out how to get the 'right' results and damn did it take me back to my teenage slumber party days.
> 
> Finally, title and inspiration are taken from the amazing song "Heat Wave" by Martha & The Vandellas. Seriously, if you're not familiar with it give it a listen and I guarantee it will put a smile on your face!

Max sighed.

She was laying on her back on her bed, with El flopped on her stomach next to her, giving her a sympathetic look.

"Still no swimming?" she asked.

"No." Max wrinkled her nose. "It _sucks_."

Usually Max and El would be hanging out with Mike, Lucas, and the rest of their friends at the pool, the mall, the arcade, or somebody's house. But yesterday, when Mike suggested going swimming, Max had rudely told him just what she thought of his suggestion. Mike had asked sarcastically why she was suddenly so opposed to swimming, and it had turned into a screaming match that ended with Max and El leaving early for their sleepover. Later Max had explained to El exactly why she couldn't swim right now, and they'd both agreed that boys were infuriating and clueless.

Now, with no money to go to the mall and neither of them feeling like doing much else in the heat, they were in Max's room trying to decide how to spend the day.

"I wish I got my allowance today," Max said. "Then we could do something fun."

"We could play a game," El suggested. "Cards?"

"Nah, I don't feel like cards," Max said. "Wait! I know a game that might be fun, though."

She scrambled to her feet and dug through her desk for a minute before holding up some scrap paper and a pen.

"This is like a silly fortune-teller game," Max said, plopping down onto her bed next to El. She wrote the letters M, A, S, and H across the top of the page. "These stand for mansion, apartment, shack, and house. Now, pick four numbers."

"Any numbers?" El asked.

"Yeah, any numbers at all," Max said.

El looked down at her forearm. "Eleven."

Max gave her an encouraging smile.

"Eight," El said. "Three. Seven."

"Good choices," Max said. "Now we need four people."

"Four people?" El frowned. "Who?"

"Anyone," Max said. "I usually pick three people I know and a celebrity. But you can pick whoever you want."

El grinned. "Mike. And you."

"Cool," Max said. "Two more!"

"Um, Corey Hart?" El said shyly.

"Good one!" Max added the name. "Last one."

"Will?" El said.

"Okay, that works," Max said. "Now pick four cars."

"Cars?" El asked. 

"Yeah, pick two cars you'd like to drive and two that you wouldn't," Max said.

"Hopper's truck," El said.

"Good one," Max said.

"I don't know," El said. "You pick the rest."

"Okay." Max thought for a minute. "Let's say a limo! It's a big, fancy car with fridges and everything in the seats. Everyone would be so jealous of us."

"Cool!" El's eyes lit up.

"And, for crappy cars, let's see..." Max thought again. "Mrs. Wheeler's station wagon! It's a total mom car. Not cool at all. And, hmmm... how about a falling apart rusty old clunker?"

El nodded and giggled.

Max finished writing, then said, "Ok, now pick a number between one and ten."

"Five," El said.

"Okay!" Max began counting under her breath. With El watching over her shoulder, she crossed out words until only one item remained in each category.

"So are you ready to hear your future?" Max asked.

"Yes!" El said.

"You, El, are going to live in a shack with Corey Hart," Max said. "You'll have eleven kids and drive a limo. Congratulations!"

They both collapsed in a fit of giggles.

"Can I try?" El asked when they'd regained control of themselves.

"Of course!" Max handed her a paper and the pen. "My numbers are zero, one, two, and three. My people are Dustin, I guess, you, Ralph Macchio, and - " she huffed a pretend reluctant sigh - "Lucas."

When El finished writing those, Max listed her cars.

"A limo," she said. "A convertible. A motorcycle. And a station wagon."

"Okay," El said. "Number between one and ten, right?"

"Yeah!" Max said. "I'll go with three."

El carefully counted out the spots and, with Max's encouragement, crossed out each item. She held out the list when she was finished.

"House," she read. "With Lucas, two kids, and a convertible."

"My dream come true!" Max fell backwards, and they both burst into giggles again.

"One more?" El asked excitedly.

"Billy?" Max laughed. "We can try. Come on!"

With pen and paper in hand, the two of them ran outside, where Billy was washing his car.

"Hey, Billy!" Max said. "We're, uh, doing a project and we need you to answer a few questions."

"School's out, in case you forgot," Billy said.

"It's not for school, duh," Max said. "It'll just take a second."

"Please?" El asked sweetly.

Billy sighed. "Make it quick."

"List four people," Max said.

"That's vague," Billy said. "What kind of people?"

"Three people you know and a celebrity," Max said. 

"Harrington, Heather, James Hetfield, and me," Billy said with a smirk.

"Now pick four numbers," El said.

"One thousand, thirty-seven, five, three million," Billy said.

El giggled as Max wrote it down.

"Okay, four cars," Max said.

"Right here," Billy said, patting his car's hood.

"Clunker," El said.

"She is not!" Billy said.

"Forget it," Max muttered as she wrote. "Your dumb car. Clunker. Limo. Station wagon. There."

"Pick a number between one and ten," El said.

"Eight," Billy said.

Max and El counted together, their heads bent over the paper, until they had their results. They both burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Billy asked.

"We see your future," Max said dramatically. "You will drive your - "

"Car," El said.

"And have five kids," Max said.

"And live in a mansion," El said.

"With - " Max looked over at El and they both snickered.

"With... ?" Billy asked.

"Steve Harrington!" Max and El shouted at the same time, before collapsing into laughter again.

Billy scowled and tossed the rag he was holding onto the ground.

"Real funny," he snapped. "You think life's all a big joke, huh, Maxine? You think you're so smart, got it all figured out? You don't know a damn thing!"

"What the hell is your problem?" Max snapped back. "It's a stupid game, dummy, it's not _real_."

Billy glared at both of them, then stormed inside and slammed the door. Max held up her middle finger, a scowl on her own face.

El closed her eyes for a moment, opened them, and frowned.

"What if he wants it to be real?" she said slowly.

Max turned to her, surprise replacing her angry expression. El looked back solemnly.

*****

One day El and Max had decided to have some fun by using El's powers to spy on the boys. They'd laughed themselves silly over Mike, Lucas, and Will's teenage boy immaturity. It had been so entertaining that they'd made a list of other people they knew and randomly picked someone to spy on. They'd ended up with Billy.

At first all El saw was an ordinary scene of Billy flirting with Heather and the Hawkins housewives at the pool. But then she'd started to see glimpses of other, hidden things - shouted words she didn't recognize but that she understood meant something bad, bruises, pain, tears, guilt, longing. When she told Max, Max said Billy and his dad didn't get along at all, but that wasn't her problem, and besides he had done plenty of things to feel guilty about. After that, though, they had dropped both the subject and their spying.

El hadn't thought about it again until now, but sitting on the steps next to Max, she explained what she was thinking.

"One of the things I saw before," she said. "There was someone he liked. Like I like Mike and you like Lucas. But he didn't want anyone to know. I think it's Steve."

"That would explain why he got so mad," Max said. "Maybe he's scared we'll find out and tell Ne - everyone." She dropped her chin onto her knees. "We've been getting along a lot better, but what if he hates me now?"

"He doesn't hate you," El said. She put her arm around Max's shoulders. "Let's talk to him."

Max shook her head. "He won't listen to us right now."

"So we talk to Steve," El said.

"El, it doesn't work that way," Max said. "We can't just tell Steve that my brother _likes_ him. Especially if we're not sure."

"Billy will talk to Steve," El said. "But we need to tell Steve that he wants to talk. Because boys are _clueless_. Right?"

"Right," Max said. She sat up straight and managed a little smile. "I guess we are going to the mall today."

*****

With El on the back of her bike, Max pedaled to Starcourt as quickly as she could. Both of them were hot and sweaty by the time they arrived, but they were so focused on their mission they barely even noticed either the humidity outside or the cool air-conditioning inside. When they reached Scoops Ahoy they pushed their way to the counter, ignoring the other customers' protests.

"Hey!" Steve said. "Line's back there, you two."

"We need to talk," Max said.

"Right now?" Steve said. "Is it, uh, an _emergency_?"

"Yes," Max said, at the same time El said, "No."

Steve crossed his arms. "This better not be some kind of joke."

"Not an emergency," El said. "But it's important."

"Okay." Steve sighed. "Robin's back in ten minutes. Go sit down and I'll be there as soon as I can."

Max and El found a booth and squeezed in next to each other. When Steve joined them a few minutes later, he looked back and forth between them.

"It's not the Upside Down stuff again, is it?" he asked.

"No," El said firmly. "I closed the gate. It's gone. Promise."

"Start talking, then," Steve said.

"I, um, kind of did something to hurt my brother," Max said. "I didn't mean to."

"We both did it," El said loyally.

"And now we want to fix it, but we need your help," Max said.

Steve frowned. "I'm gonna need some details here."

"I can't." Max looked down at her hands for a minute, then took a deep breath. "I can't give you details, I mean. Just... Look, Steve, I know you're sort of friends, or maybe not exactly friends, but if he wanted to tell you something, would you at least listen and not, like, get mad?"

"I guess so," Steve said. "If it's about last year, though, he already apologized, and yeah, it was a really bad time for all of us, but we're past all that, and - "

"No, it's not about that," Max interrupted. She looked imploringly at El. 

El squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Billy has a secret," El said. "I think he wants to talk."

"To me?" Steve said.

"Yes," El said.

Steve stared into the distance, seemingly lost in thought, before glancing from El to Max again with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Okay," he said. "If Billy wants to talk, I'll listen. I'll be home all night." He leaned back in the booth and crossed his arms. "But if you two are pulling some stupid prank, you're dead, got it?"

El and Max nodded.

"That's all we wanted," Max said. "Thanks, Steve."

*****

When Max and El returned to Max's house, Max knocked on Billy's closed bedroom door.

"Get lost, Max," he called.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Max said. "It was just supposed to be a stupid game. But I think you should talk to Steve."

"I think you should mind your own damn business," Billy shouted.

"Billy?" El said softly. "You should talk. Friends don't lie."

"Steve said he'll be home tonight," Max said, her own voice softer now.

Billy yanked his door open.

"What did you say to him?" he growled.

El put her hand on Max's shoulder. Max stuck out her chin and locked eyes with her stepbrother.

"Just that you have something to tell him," she said. "If you want to tell him. I would never say anything, Billy. Not to anyone. Not even when you're being a total jerk. And neither would El."

"Promise," El said.

Billy let out a long breath. For a moment, all three of them were silent, staring at each other.

"I'm sorry too," Billy mumbled finally. He gave Max a small but genuine smile. "For a nosy little bitch you're not half bad as a sister."

Max impulsively threw her arms around him.

"I love you too, jerk," she said.

*****

Hopper arrived to pick El up shortly after, but Max promised to call as soon as she had any news. 

El tossed and turned the entire night, wishing she could at least be keeping Max company. She was tempted to use her powers to look, just for a second, but she resisted. She would find out what happened soon enough.

The phone rang early in the morning. El jumped out of bed and hurried to answer it before it woke Hopper up.

"Max?" she whispered.

"Billy brought Steve over," Max said, sounding like she was trying to keep her voice down but wasn't quite succeeding. "They want to take us to breakfast before they go to work. We'll pick you up."

"Okay," El said. "Hurry!"

"Okay!" Max said with a laugh. "See you soon."

El quickly dressed, left a note for Hopper, and was waiting impatiently on the porch when Billy, Steve, and Max pulled up. Billy and Steve stole a quick kiss as she scrambled into the back seat next to Max.

"I'm so glad you're here now," Max said. "I don't have to suffer alone with these idiots anymore."

Billy stuck his tongue out at her in the rearview mirror. Steve twisted around to look at them, grinning.

"There's the other fortune teller," he said. "You know, you guys never told me _my_ fortune yesterday."

"Lots of kids, a mansion, a stupid car, and you're stuck with my loser brother," Max said, her eyes sparkling. 

"Sounds good to me," Steve said, giving Billy a fond smile before Billy turned his attention to the road.

" _And_ you give us all the free ice cream we want because you are eternally grateful to us," Max said. 

"Don't push your luck," Steve said.

"Do I get free ice cream?" Billy asked flirtatiously.

"Sure," Steve said. "Why not? How about I hand out free ice cream to everyone in Hawkins while I'm at it?"

"Oh please," Max said. "You already give Dustin free ice cream all the time."

"I do not!" Steve said. "Not _all_ the time." He pointed in Billy's direction. "And besides, I heard a certain lifeguard lets a certain group of nerds go swimming without paying admission."

"That was one time!" Billy said. "I had to watch Max and her misfits anyway, might as well get paid for it."

"Misfits, really?" Max kicked the seat and El giggled.

"Was anyone talking to you, Maxine?" Billy said.

Max flipped him off and pretended to look annoyed, but there was a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Steve and Billy kept stealing little glances at each other when they thought the other one wasn't looking, both smiling softly. El sat back contentedly, basking in the happiness that radiated from everyone as warm as the sun promising another perfect summer day in Hawkins.


End file.
